36 HYATT ON THE TERTIARY SPECIES 



The " schmieriger Sand," probably a deposit of clayey sand described as underlying the 

 Oxystomus Limestone, was not visible at any point in my path in such a way that I could 

 determine its relations to the surrounding rocks. A large number of loose pieces of a thin 

 bedded limestone, slightly coarser in texture than the Oxystomus Limestone, were found 

 lying scattered on the soil of the lower part of the hill from the junction of the Sontheim 

 and Cloister ridge roads to the western end of the Burgstall. PI. supremus is very 

 abimdant in these pieces, and one form also occurred, a Variety with a slightly elevated 

 spire, which I have described as PI. oxystomus var. cochleata. This also occurs in formation 

 m of the Cloister Pit in great abundance. Though we find this to be a turretted form 

 with the whorls flattened on the upper side and so similar in the young to those of the 

 adult of PI. '""S™^ when seen from the same side, that no differences could be 

 detected, nevertheless the lower umbilicus was deep, the increase of the whorls in size by 

 growth exceedingly rapid, and the whole shell evidently similar to PI. oxystomus, var. 

 cochleata. Closer investigation showed that this view could be sustained by an almost 

 uninterrupted series of intermediate forms, and by inniunerable young shells, which 

 covered the surface of the slabs. PI. levis Sand, also occurred, but this was rare and I 

 could not detect any specimens having forms intermediate between this and the former. 

 Gillia utriculosa, Oillia sp. unknown and Pupa antiqua were also found. The fossils 

 are not sufficiently peculiar to identify those fragments as belonging to any rock in place 

 and I only mention them here because they contain the rare form of cochleata. 



The formation next described by Fraas as occurring on the road to Neuselhalderhof, I 

 did not visit, but the fossils are fully described by him, and differ from all hitherto men- 

 tioned. The rock itself he describes as succeeding the Coarse Breccia on the lower part 

 of the hill, but he does not attempt to synchronize it with the formations just described 

 on the Burgstall. The fossils consist of PI. solidus Th., PI. declivis Br., PI. platys- 

 tomus Klein, PI. exustus Desh., PI. Hilgendorfi Fraas, Helix sylvestrina Ziet., Helix 

 gyrorbis KL, Lymneus socialis, Ancylus deperditus Desh., Neritina fluviatilis Linn. Of 

 all these it will be remarked that only Lymneus socialis and Helix sylvestrina are 

 found subsequently in the neighborhood of the Cloisterberg, either in the rocks or in the 

 Sand Pits, and that not a single one occurs in the formation on the BurgstaU. To 

 determine precisely the relations of this formation with regard to those on the Burgstall, 

 would require a re-examination of the locality, but this is hardly necessary. Prof Fraas 

 has described it as lying within the Coarse Breccia, and considers the fauna as related to 

 the older Tertiary Molasse of Teutschbuch. Hilgendorf describes the formation as a 

 "hard, thick, yellowish-gray limestone," and besides the fossils enumerated by Fraas, says 

 that it contains the PI. aequiumhilicatus Hilgend. Steinberger refers this PI. aequium- 

 bilicatus to PI. levis Klein, and says in his famous work so often quoted (page 579), that 

 this species occurs in the Planorbis shale (Schiefern), over the limestone containing Helix 

 sylvana, and mentions, as found with it, Lymneus dilatatus Noulet. Sandberger describes 

 the whole fauna of the Neuselhalderhofer or Sylvana Limestone as older than the Cloister- 

 berg deposits, and adds the following significant remarks :^ " The enormous number of such 

 species as Carinifex multiformis, tenuis, oxystomus, Gillia utriculosa, Planorbis costatus, 



' Op. cit., p. 654. 



